Whole Wheat Sweet Potato Gnocchi

I love Gnocchi, those gorgeous pillowy potato dumplings Italy made famous! They are so versatile and a fantastic change from regular pasta every once in a while. You would be surprised how simple it is to make your own. Plus making your own has the added benefit of no preservative or additives. Just a few simply ingredients and you are done!

Ever the health conscious, well I like to do a little balancing act of 20% bold awesome treats, and 80% sinless tasty meals; I've decided to make gnocchi even healthier. Normally made with white potatoes and white flour, I'm mixing things up a bit using whole wheat flour, and sweet potatoes instead. I love how by making little grooves in the gnocchi, your sauce sticks to them, making for a very tasty vegetarian meal. I like to go meat free on a Monday after maybe over eating at the weekends. This is the perfect antidote to a weekend of over indulging, but still packed with goodness and flavour!

Ingredients

• 2 large sweet potatoes
• 1 cup of whole wheat flour
• 2/3 tbsp of olive oil, extra virgin
• Salt & pepper
• The sauce of your choice,  My Parsley Pesto, is a particular favorite

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees, and bake the sweet potatoes for 50 minutes. If you are short on time, prick each sweet potato many times, wrap in kitchen paper and microwave for 6-7 minutes.
2. Once baked, slice the potatoes in half and scoop out the soft potato, discard the skins. Allow to cool. 
3. Add salt, pepper and the oil, and mash the potatoes well.
4. Add the flour to the mashed potato and knead to a well formed dough, add more oil if too dry or more flour if too wet.
5. Dust your work surface with flour and turn out the dough, giving it a brief knead. 
6. Roll the dough out to a sausage rope.
7. Cut the rope into 1 inch intervals.
8. Using a wet fork, stamp each gnocchi, to give a slight indent.
9. Place a pan of water on to boil with a generous pinch of salt.
10. Drop the gnocchi into the water and cool for a couple of minutes. When they float, they are cooked.
11. Stir through your sauce/pesto of choice and enjoy.